Lady Bulldogs look to storm into district play

By SKIP LEON Skip.Leon@hearstnp.com

Published 5:53 am, Saturday, January 9, 2016

Photo: Skip Leon/Plainview Herald

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Plainview's Allie Bennett dives on the floor attempting to steal the ball from a Lubbock Monterey player during a game earlier this season. The Lady Bulldogs open District 4-5A play at Abilene Cooper Tuesday. They will be gunning for their fourth consecutive district championship. less

Plainview's Allie Bennett dives on the floor attempting to steal the ball from a Lubbock Monterey player during a game earlier this season. The Lady Bulldogs open District 4-5A play at Abilene Cooper Tuesday. ... more

Photo: Skip Leon/Plainview Herald

Lady Bulldogs look to storm into district play

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Veteran Plainview girls basketball coach Danny Wrenn says every team must deal with adversity during the long haul of a season. He says teams must weather the storm until they become the storm.

Wrenn is hoping his Lady Bulldogs unleash a blizzard Tuesday night when they travel to Abilene Cooper to open District 4-5A play. Game time is 6 p.m.

And while he wants to see his team shoot better than they have in consecutive losses to Dumas and Lubbock Home School, the keys to Plainview’s success might be summed up with the metaphor of thunder and lightning - thunderous rebounding and lightning-fast defense.

“We’ve got to rebound better and we have to defend better,” Wrenn said. “There are times we’ve pressed really well. There are going to be nights, as we’ve seen over the last few games, that you’re not going to shoot the ball well.”

Wrenn said the shots being taken are good shots, but the ball just hasn’t been dropping through the hoop.

“I try to tell them you’ve got to keep shooting the ball,” Wrenn said. “You’ve got to expect to make it. You’re going to get good looks. But we’ve got to get more. We’ve got to get second and third opportunities. We’ve got to get to the free-throw line. We’ve got to convert turnovers into points.”

The Lady Bulldogs enter district play with a 14-9 record. Among their victories was a 57-21 shellacking of Abilene Cooper at the Levelland Tournament in early December. However, Wrenn said, Cooper played without senior post Tierra Cherry and senior point guard Alyssa Ruffin. And Emarie James, one of their leading scorers, was slowed by a foot injury.

The beginning of district play represents a new start for the Lady Bulldogs. As Wrenn said, now the regular season comes down to eight games to decide if a team continues to play in the postseason. And he wants his team to look at it as a new beginning, a chance to start over despite a two-game losing streak and rollercoaster pre-district campaign.

“Our preparation and focus all year long is for where we are now, which is district,” Wrenn said. “We really stressed to our kids that we have to be unified, we have to play together, we have to be encouraging. What’s happened is behind us. Let’s take the positives and build on them. Let’s eliminate the negatives.”

Wrenn said every practice is critical if his team is to win not only Tuesday night, but make a run at a fourth consecutive district championship.

“We’ve got to refocus and re-gather,” the coach said. “Every day in practice we’ve got to put our focus on let’s get better and do the things our coaches want us to do. Let’s do that and let’s prepare hard.”

Wrenn said his team has been doing just that. He’s stressing to them to execute the small things that can make a difference in a game.

“We’ve had good practices,” Wrenn said. “I told them, if you don’t know what you’re doing when you get out there, this time of the year a lot of it’s just focus, detail. Setting people up, rubbing shoulder to shoulder on screens. When the ball’s shot, turning and finding a body and blocking them out. It’s a lot of the detail work that you’ve really got to focus on.”

Wrenn said in addition to the physical training, he wants his team to be mentally sharp on the court. They have shown flashes of what they’re capable of this season. Now, he said, it’s time to put it all together for the district campaign.

“When we play with great energy, we’re pretty tough to beat,” Wrenn said. “We did that early in the year in that Monterey game. At Marble Falls we went 5-1 against some really good teams. The Randall game here, the Trinity Christian game there. When we’ve played with lots of energy and lots of focus, we’ve played really well. But then we’ve had other games where we haven’t played with that kind of energy and we haven’t done very well.”

The first game against Abilene Cooper was an example of the Lady Bulldogs playing with that positive energy and confidence. Wrenn hopes his team enters Tuesday’s tilt in the right frame of mind.

“If you go down there with the right mentality, you can use that (win) as a confidence builder,” he said. “You can say hey, we can go in there and take care of them. We got on them the first time. Or, you can go down and say well, we beat them, and not be ready and get beat.

“This game is the game that matters. This is the district game. So, we’ll prepare them hard in the mental aspect, which, with this group, is extremely important.”

Wrenn said Abilene Cooper poses some challenges because they’re big and athletic.

“Like you’ve seen in football and boys basketball and all sports, Abilene Cooper’s got a lot of good athletes,” he said. “They have a lot of size. They have a lot of speed. Those kind of teams can always cause you problems. And especially going to their place.”

Wrenn said it will be important for his team to get off to a fast start Tuesday night.

“It’s really important with this group that we get out of the gate fast at Abilene,” Wrenn said. “We’ve beaten them this year. Getting on them early will be a big, big factor.”

The Lady Bulldogs will be without a key player when they begin district play. Senior Brittany Rincon, a three-year varsity performer, suffered a leg injury against Dumas a week ago Saturday and did not play against the Lubbock Titans Tuesday.

Wrenn said he’s not sure exactly what the injury is, but it will keep her out of the lineup for at least the first two district games and possibly longer. He said juniors Amela Dizdarevic, Karly Sanchez and Harlee Davis will fill her spot in the lineup. Davis, a three-year varsity performer, is a starting post player, but can move out to Rincon’s wing position if needed.

“Brittany has been playing very well,” Wrenn said of the 5-foot-8 senior. “She’s experienced. She’s been on the varsity three years. She’s been in a lot of big games. Every team faces adversity and this team is no different.”

The key, Wrenn said, is for his team to be unified.

“We’ve got to come together. That’s one of the biggest things with this team,” Wrenn said. “They’ve got to come together and they’ve got to believe in themselves. They’ve got to be fierce competitors. And they’ve got to expect to win. They’ve got to follow in the tradition that’s been set for them.”

Wrenn has made sure his players know what that tradition is, the tradition of a storied girls basketball program that has experienced success on an annual basis. They’ll be gunning for their fourth straight district crown.

Now Playing:

“Our kids know that and hear that,” Wrenn said. “This is a proud program. It’s their job to uphold what the people before them have done. But they’ve got to do it with character and they’ve got to believe in what they can do. We’ve seen them do it this year, so we know the capability is there.

“It’s just all of us believing and preparing. We’ll prepare them hard and go down there confident. I think it’s real important we get up on (Cooper) early, just kind of plant that seed. We’ve had some games we’ve played well and some we haven’t. But when it counts, we’re here and we’re ready to play.”